Monday, April 16, 2012

Sharyn McCrumb coming to Rugby

Best-selling author Sharyn McCrumb will be coming to Rugby's Rebecca Johnson Theater on Sunday, April 22, at 3:00 p.m. McCrumb's accumulated works include the Elizabeth MacPherson novels, the St. Dale series that have a NASCAR theme, short stories, and my favorites, her ballad series. My wife and I have been big Sharyn McCrumb fans since first reading She Walks These Hills, the novel that remains my favorite. I think I must have read it three or four times now. All of her ballad books have sat on our bookshelves, although we have a hard time keeping copies in stock. Over the years I think I must have bought a half dozen copies of She Walks These Hills and we currently don't have one. We rave, people ask, we loan, and they're gone forever.

McCrumb is a native of Appalachia and in her ballad series writes about the people and places she knows best. Her love for the land, the people, history, and culture not only is felt by the reader, but rings true to those of us who share her love of place. She summed it up well herself: “My books are like Appalachian quilts,” says Sharyn McCrumb. “I take brightly colored scraps of legends, ballads, fragments of rural life, and local tragedy, and I piece them together into a complex whole that tells not only a story, but also a deeper truth about the culture of the mountain South.”

Please join us if you can. If you can't, read along with us in one of McCrumb's ballad books. You'll be glad you did!

About Me

I am a retired scientist, educator, and administrator. I'm of Scots-Irish and English descent and have deep roots (8 generations) in Appalachia, primarily eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia. My professional interests and training are in ecology and environmental quality; my post-professional interests are sufficiently numerous and varied to assure I will never be bored. Jim